Things People Don’t Understand About Anxiety Sufferers

Things People Don’t Understand About Anxiety Sufferers

We can’t just turn it off - Trust us, if we could we would

It is not all in our heads

Sometimes when we’re feeling the anxiety, we have no idea why we’re anxious

We can’t “just let it go”

Change is always difficult, even if we expect it

Keep inviting us to things even though we usually decline - it helps us feel wanted and can help ease some of the anxiety even if we don’t accept your invitation

If we seem a little nervous, don’t make fun of us, or make us feel guilty. We feel awful enough already

Little things that seem like nothing to you can have a huge effect on us - things like dropping a pencil or spilling some water

It may seem irrational to you, but what I’m anxious about is very real for me

We’re not lazy or overreacting

It’s hard to make plans and just as hard to talk on the phone sometimes

We are constantly overthinking and overanalyzing situations

We interpret the world around us differently to you - Although you may have not meant anything more than you actually said, we look deeper than we should, often misinterpreting the situation

 If we ask you the same question repeatedly, don’t get mad. We are only trying to reassure ourselves. We constantly do this because the anxiety lies to us and tries to convince us we are wrong

Anxiety doesn’t have a ‘look.’ We don’t have to be trembling or hyperventilating to be anxious

We’d rather not see the people who witnessed our misstep then risk having to be reminded of it.

ANYTHING can trigger an Anxiety attack. 

It is a real mental illness

Be careful with your tone - we detect the slightest change in it and it sets of a wave of panic